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This movie review was produced by Rev. Roger Bray, Pastor at Central Christian Church in Pocatello, Idaho By now most of us have been introduced to the controversy surrounding the film, The Passion of the Christ, financed and produced by box office icon Mel Gibson. Proponents and opponents have lined up to make their views known. Finally, with the film’s release on Ash Wednesday we have the chance to decide for ourselves! There are nearly 100 movies that have been made that depict the life of Christ. I think that it is fair to say that none of these films have been produced with the same level of resources and determination, as was this movie. Mel Gibson is on record for his desire to make sure that there was an integrity upheld regarding scripture, language, time, ethnicity, and custom so as to depict as authentically as possible last few hours of Christ’s life. There is nothing more pivotal to the Christian faith than is Jesus’ death and resurrection. These two events define the nature of the Christian beliefs of love, grace, forgiveness, and everlasting life. Those with a strong Christian and biblical background and a strong constitution to watch extended periods of brutality will find the film very inspirational. This is a vivid and dramatic recreation of what the Bible describes as the true nature of what Jesus endured and suffered in order to fulfill his calling as the Lamb of God. If you see this movie you will never be able to summarize Jesus’ passion as simply “having suffered and died” with out weighing it from the perspective of what you have watched. I am reminded of how Job expressed his awareness of God after facing the tribulations of his life, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6, NRSV) This film presents a tangible illustration that will weigh on the souls of those who follow Christ. It reminds us that redemption and grace came at an awful price. The violence will detract from some people’s experience because they will find themselves dealing with their ability to handle sustained periods of barbarity and the resulting blood and gore. The story line of the movie assumes a high level of awareness on the part of the viewer. Students of the Bible have a context in which they can understand and interpret the movie as it unfolds. Others who are not very familiar with the Bible will discover that they are trying to keep up with visual flashbacks to prior events of Jesus’ life and ministry without knowing a context. Viewers unfamiliar with the Gospels will confront a type of Christian shorthand that leaves them guessing at several points. I believe that the audience could have connected with Jesus’ better if the story of his life and ministry would have been more developed while at the same time not being so preoccupied with manner by which he was tortured and brutalized. The graphic nature of this movie and the use of sub-titles should make parents of children under the age of 14 or 15 consider what they will be exposing their children to. The R rating is deserved. While I did found the use of sub-titles to be easy to read and enabling of the flow of the movie, those with poor reading skills or vision may find that they are left watching a lot of violence without knowing the story behind it. There are a few things about the movie that are abstract and take the viewer to the realm of Hollywood effects and surreal experience. Satan is personified in a woman figure that appears as an antagonist of who Jesus is and what he is trying to accomplish. I believe there is some gratuitous violence, particularly in the scene dealing with the taunting thief on the cross. For those who understand the concept of Jesus resurrection the film ends it triumph but again there is an abstract element that nominal Christians and non-Christians will have to figure out. With all the hype and hoopla that has surrounded this film, I think that a couple points need to be made. First, the concept of freedom of religion empowers our society and produces independent thinkers. Such people should be able to hear or view creative expressions and then be capable of allowing their sense of God and God's will to determine the manner by which they should embrace, oppose, or do neither when it comes to matters of controversy. For this reason some of us are determined to see for our self and understand for our self, and not blindly follow the arguments or endorsements of others. Yet, too often people embrace beliefs or concepts solely on the authority of how they enable their own agendas. We need people to stand apart from the frenzy and see things for what they are and not for what others would will them to be. It was for this reason that I welcomed the opportunity to share with our community my responses. From the perspective of the Christian faith the talk about Christ that has been generated is invigorating. The fact that a conservative Catholic and conservative Evangelicals have worked together is a great witness for Jesus serving as the unifying factor of the Christian faith. Second, this film vividly and dramatically depicts the violence Christ experienced as he gave his life as a sacrifice to pay for the sin of people. He endured violence as a way of confronting violence. When he looks down from the cross and says, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” Christ was speaking of a diverse crowd comprised of Romans, Jews, and even his own followers who had abandoned him the night before. His resurrection stands as a testimony of how love wins over hate. Anyone, who in the name of Christ would seek to victimize others demeans what Jesus stood for, cheapens what he accomplished and detracts from what he taught. He endured violence to demonstrate how ultimately answers do not lie in the power of violence but in the power of one’s humble faith and trust in God. If this simple message is conveyed to those who view this film, then the concerns of anti-Semitism surrounding it can be dismissed. Unfortunately, there have been far too many events in human history where Christian’s have been arrogant, have taken violent action against others, and justified those actions on the basis of their faith. It is the terrible experiences of Jewish people through the ages at the hand of Christians that have triggered their concerns. We Christians who are inspired by this movie should be challenged to follow Jesus’ example of healing and understand with greater clarity why we should be ready to confront any applications of the Christian faith that would seek to justify violence and hatred.
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